Briefcase Bandit Gets the Picture : Publicity Apparently Leads to Robbery Suspect’s Surrender

Unnerved by seeing his picture in news reports, a Moorpark man who says he is the “briefcase gun bandit” wanted in 19 bank holdups appeared in the lobby of the FBI’s office building with his hands raised in surrender, authorities said Wednesday.

The self-described bandit called ahead from a car phone to say he was on his way in to give up, they said. Agents simply walked downstairs when they heard he had arrived.

The suspected robber was identified as Jay Carlton Brammer, 24. He told agents he is the robber who carried a pistol in a briefcase and has been blamed for a string of bank holdups, mostly in the western San Fernando Valley, said FBI spokesman John Hoos.

He apparently felt pressured to surrender after a photo, taken from bank security cameras, was published in The Times on Tuesday and broadcast by many TV stations, Hoos said. “It’s obvious that the media attention caused him to turn himself in,” Hoos said.

FBI Special Agent Ann Middleton received a call at the bureau’s office on Wilshire Boulevard in Westwood shortly before 8 p.m. Tuesday from a man who said he was the “briefcase bandit,” calling from a car phone on his way to her office to surrender, according to an affidavit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.

“The agent was a little apprehensive,” Hoos said.

“But then at around 8:10 p.m., she got a call from a guard in the downstairs lobby that (Brammer) was there.”

As Middleton and another agent approached Brammer, he stood up, put his hands above his waist and shrugged at the agents, according to the affidavit.

After Brammer’s arrest, an FBI agent phoned Brammer’s father, Rick, also of Ventura County, who told the agent that his son had called him earlier in the evening and told him that he “was going to do the right thing,” and surrender, according to the affidavit.

Brammer was later transported to the West Los Angeles Division of the Los Angeles Police Department where he was booked on suspicion of bank robbery.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Barbara Masterson said Brammer, who is being held without bail, is to be arraigned April 10. A source close to the case said it is likely that he will be indicted by a grand jury.

So far, bank employees have linked Brammer to three of the robberies; investigators must now see whether additional employees are able to identify him as the gunman in the other heists, LAPD Detective Norm Jackson said.

The robberies, 16 of which were pulled off at only seven banks, began roughly a year ago. The bandit’s most recent appearance was at banks in Studio City and Northridge last Thursday. The banks he robbed stretched from a bank in West Hollywood, which was struck three times, to one in Calabasas, which was hit twice.

In between, authorities have linked the bandit to three robberies at a Household Bank branch in Woodland Hills and two each at General Bank and 1st Nationwide Bank branches, both in Northridge, and Century and Downey Savings branches, both in Encino.

During the Feb. 7 robbery at the General Bank branch in Northridge, the bandit approached a teller and, after pulling an automatic handgun out of a dark briefcase, said “Give me the money. Give me hundreds,” according to the affidavit. The bandit then approached another teller and said “All the money.”

The bandit got away with more than $4,300, but not before a bank security camera was able to capture clear shots of him, which helped lead to Brammer’s arrest.

“It’s great news,” said Larry Storm, who is in charge of security for Household Bank, which the bandit is suspected of hitting four times. “Sometimes a good photograph will bring them out of the woodwork.”